Samnites

The Samnites were an ancient Italian people that inhabited Samnium in southern Italy in the Apennine Mountains area, with their capital at Bovianum. The Samnites were a hardy tribespeople who sometimes fought alongside the Roman Republic, but at other times, fought against them in the Samnite Wars. The Samnites were subdued by 290 BC after defeat in the Third Samnite War, but continued to fight Rome in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE.

History
The Samnites were inhabitants of Samnium in southern Italy in the Apennine Mountains area, speaking the Oscan language. Their capital was at Bovianum. The Samnite peoples of southern Italy were famous for their plumes worn from their golden helmets, and their long spears tipped with red feathers. The Samnites had a large region that expanded from the Liris River in the north to the area occupied by the Greek Cities settlement of Tarentum. The Samnites started the First Samnite War in 343 BC due to their attack on the city of Sindicini with aid from Rome's enemies, the Campanians, and were defeated at the Battle of Mons Gaurus by the Romans, with the war ending in 341 BC.

The Samnites were at peace until 324 BC, when they supported the Tarquinii's uprising against Roman rule in northern Italy. The Samnites' capital of Bovianum was captured in the Second Samnite War, and despite victories at the Battle of Caudine Forks and the Battle of Lautulae, they were again defeated. Their final defeat at the Battle of Sentinum in 295 BC ended their major warfare against the Romans as they bowed down.

However, in the Second Punic War of the 210s and 200s BC, the Samnites fought for Hannibal of Carthage and his army, and continued warfare with the Romans.